How The First Big Bud Tractor Came To Life

How The First Big Bud Tractor Came To Life Tony Hicks, like many young trade students in the 1960s, navigated a demanding schedule of working night shifts (at a body shop) while attending classes by day. After earning a diploma in diesel and auto mechanics in 1968, Hicks’ journey led him to the Wagner Equipment Co. in Havre, Mont., for the initial design and planning stages of the earliest Big Bud tractor. In the fall of 1968, the tractor was still a vision; it wasn’t until the following March that ground was broken on what would become an icon of agricultural innovation. At the time, John Deere had recently acquired Wagner’s patents and decided to engineer its own tractors. The Montana shop’s foreman and engineer, Bud Nelson, took the lead on the tractor’s design, eventually lending his name to the project. During the initial prototype build, Hicks handled all the ironwork, including cutting, welding and fitting. “Our tools were really basic,” he explains. “To shape the front of the cab, we used chains, come-alongs, vise grips and sledgehammers to get it looking right. It was a crude operation, but our five-man crew was a dedicated bunch, and we built that tractor from the ground up.” The team prioritized off-the-shelf parts to ensure future repairs could be handled anywhere. The engine was a Cummins, delivering roughly 325 hp. The axles were Eaton, and a Fuller 10-speed truck transmission powered the machine. It rode on single, wide, squatty wheels nearly 4 ft. across. “The shop was especially noisy and smoky, and the hours were long, starting and ending in darkness,” Hicks says. By the fall of 1969, it was clear that the team’s hard work was worth it, as the finished prototype rolled out the shop doors. “I was fortunate to be the one to test the prototype in the field,” Hicks says. “On the first attempt, it easily pulled a 52-ft. cultivator.” A persistent challenge with early tractors was their tendency to jerk and lunge when cornering at the end of a field. Nelson and the team resolved this by ensuring the pivot point to the U-joint matched on both ends, a solution they incorporated into the Big Bud’s design. “The tractor turned smoothly, with no jerking or jarring motions,” Hicks says. The first Big Bud tractor performed well and didn’t require any major modifications. After it was completed, the crew scaled up production, and Hicks’ role shifted to building cabs for the tractors that followed. “I’m really proud to have had a part in this one-of-a-kind tractor,” Hicks says. “It helped shape a new era of agricultural machinery.” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tony C. Hicks, Ovando, Mont. 59854 (ph 406-793-5665; tjhicks@blackfoot.net).

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